IIHF

Luca Hauf skates in the German jersey during the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship. photo: Matt Zambonin / IIHF. share.

It’s a good opportunity for me and for the Oil Kings to hopefully play for another championship in the coming years.” Stutzle, just a couple of years older than Hauf, grew up closeby and the two played with and against many of the same players over the years. I like to use my hockey sense to make plays and I like to set up my teammates. I wasn’t faster than most of the guys so I had to make plays with my head and know where my guys are and use my hockey sense to be a good player.” Hauf was eligible to be taken in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft but was passed over. Hauf says he primarily played in the Krefel system with players a year or two older and, sometimes, his teammates and competitors were up to three years his senior. His stats in Krefeld are impressive, including a 92-point season in 36 games with the under-17 team in 2019-20 (when Hauf was 15) and, also, a season later when he was almost a point-a-game player with the under-23 team. I like to play in transition, set up my teammates and know where they are before I get the puck.” “When I was eight years old, I had a skate with the school, we went to a rink and skated there with the class. His hockey intelligence is one of the attributes that scouts and fans have no doubt noticed about Hauf, who is playing in his second World Junior Championship, after appearing in two games at the 2022 summer juniors in Edmonton. That tournament gave a young Hauf a taste of what this event means and the high pace and level of hockey it takes to win games. Today, he’s one of the players to watch on the German team at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship.